Japanese with Manga

Possibility of building a time machine with 可能

Kanji Explanation: Ability and capability with 能

Manga panel from orange showing example of Possibility of building a time machine with 可能.
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After handing test results to class, the teacher talks about theories of time travel.

先生(せんせい):
「タイムマシンを作(つく)る事(こと)は私(わたし)は可能(かのう)だと考(かんが)えています」
“I believe it is possible to build a time machine.”
Literal: “As for the matter of making a time machine, I think it is possible.”

Key Points

1可能(かのう) = “possible” in a formal, theory-focused sense
  • Here, 可能(かのう)だ presents time-machine construction as something the speaker considers feasible, not just imaginable.
2作(つく)る事(こと)は = “as for building one”
  • 「タイムマシンを作(つく)る事(こと)は」 turns the act of building a time machine into the topic of the sentence.
  • The sentence is not about the machine itself, but about the possibility of the act of making it.
3Ⓐは 可能(かのう)だ + と 考(かんが)えている
  • The core claim is 可能(かのう)だ.
  • 「と 考(かんが)えています」 softens it into “I think…” rather than stating it as an objective fact.
4Spoken emphasis on topic with repeated は
  • The line says 「事(こと)は 私(わたし)は 可能(かのう)だ」.
  • That extra 私(わたし)は is a spoken way to emphasize “as for me, I think it’s possible”.

See Also

  • External: Marking the direct object with を
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